


Time We Made Time

by hayj



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: F/M, canon AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21894361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hayj/pseuds/hayj
Summary: Things went sideways when our heroes attempted to save the town from the mustard gas.
Relationships: Charlie Matheson/Bass Monroe
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	Time We Made Time

Bass keeps an arm wrapped around Charlie’s waist as they hide in the shadows while Rachel, Miles and Gene are drug out in the middle of the town square and forced to their knees by Truman and his cronies after getting captured while trying to rescue the town from being gassed to death. 

They demand to know where Monroe and the others are, over and over, getting angrier by the second. When Truman shoots Gene in the back of the head, they’re all taken by surprise, Charlie’s gasp covered by the sound of the crowd. She pulls against Bass’ arm trying to get loose, but he simply tightens his hold, knowing what's next. 

When Rachel goes down, Charlie stills, shaking her head in disbelief as Bass brings his hand up to cover her mouth as the next gunshot sounds and her knees buckle, her screams muffled by his hand. When they launch into a speech about patriotism and not stopping until terrorists like the Matheson's and Monroe's are hunted down and executed, he knows it’s time to go. 

Pressing his face to the back of her head, Bass takes a few steadying breaths. “We gotta go,” he whispers, slowly lowering his hand from her mouth. He waits a beat, giving her a moment to compose herself before grasping her bicep and pulling her away. 

They get out of town and hit the Matheson’s safe house, stuffing their packs quickly and quietly before moving out and heading south. They walk throughout the night until Bass leads them to a copse of trees well away from the road as the light of dawn creeps over the horizon. 

Charlie’s still running on automatic, so Bass shakes out his bedroll and hands her an apple and a piece of jerky. After passing a canteen back and forth, he offers to take first watch

Leaning against a tree, he watches as Charlie turns away from him, curling into herself. Tilting his head back, he closes his eyes against the sound of her grief. 

She finally dozes off as dawn turns into day and Bass pushes to his feet, moving far enough away that he won’t wake her when he drops to his knees with gasping breaths as he rocks back and forth pulling at his hair. His best friend is gone and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever get over this feeling of grief that’s crushing his soul. Leaving Charlie alone is the only thing that’s stopping him from eating a bullet. 

Later, when he wakes her, if his eyes are red and his face is puffy, she doesn’t comment, simply trades places with him as he slips his jacket off, using it as a pillow.

* * *

He wakes to the smell of roasting hare, and sitting up, looks across the fire with a sigh. Charlie looks as rough as he feels, but he leaves it, and takes his offered portion of the hare with quiet thanks. 

They eat in silence before killing the fire and gathering their things, getting ready for another night on the road. 

He waits for her on the side of the road as she pulls her pack onto her shoulder and grabs her crossbow. “They’ll kill us if they ever find us,” he says quietly when she joins him, looking out over the barren Texas landscape. 

Following his gaze for a moment, she looks back at him, her face pale in the gathering dusk. “We can’t ever come back here.”

Looking down at her, Bass nods grimly and heads south. 

They follow the same routine, hunkering down at dawn, and getting back on the road at dusk, hunting in-between. 

After a week, they come up over a rise and see the walls of Mexico below them. Charlie stares at the scene before her and then looks over her shoulder with a sad smile, the image of Miles throwing his arms up as he calls her a hick, shimmering in the distance.

Squaring her shoulders, she looks at Bass, not quite meeting his eyes and gives him a nod. There’s no use in looking behind when what’s left of her life lies ahead.

They manage to talk their way onto a work crew, crossing the border with little fanfare. They spend the next month working their fingers to the bone and falling into bed at night so tired they rarely talk, merely comforted by others presence. 

Finally, after they’ve gathered a small stash of coins, Bass wakes her one night, and whispers in her ear. “It’s time to go.” 

She nods her agreement and quietly, gathering their things, they disappear into the night. 

They head south and then east, finally coming to a village on the coast that seems like a good place to stop. Their sun lightened hair makes them stand out amongst the locals, but the wrinkles around Bass’ eyes, the ones that have been highlighted by his darkened skin, seem to appeal to the women in the village. 

By the end of the day, he’s found them a house, acquired them each a new set of clothes, along with food and other supplies for a mere fraction of what they should have paid. Charlie watches the women titter behind their hands as he stops next to her. Taking her hand in his, he brings it to his mouth and presses a kiss against her knuckles. “Come on” he says, his voice suddenly husky. “Let's go home.”

Blinking back the tears that suddenly fill her eyes, Charlie swallows thickly and twines their fingers together. “Sounds good,” she manages to get out, through the dust and tequila that coat her throat. 

* * *

“What’s that smell?” Charlie asks when the breeze picks up as they follow the main road out of town.

“The ocean,” Bass answers with a genuine smile, tugging her towards an overgrown path off the broken asphalt. 

They continue walking for another few minutes before suddenly the trees and underbrush give way to an expanse of beige and blue. 

“Oh,” Charlie says as she takes in the view. 

“Come, on. This should be us right here,” he says softly, guiding her towards a nearby house. 

“Why’s it look like that?” she asks as they approach the stairs leading up to the house. 

“They’re called stilts,” he explains as he slowly climbs, testing his weight on each tread. “If a storm comes in causing the tide to rise, it’ll keep the house from flooding.” Reaching the door, he sets his pack to the side and with a gun in one hand, unlocks the door with the other. Charlie stays by the door with a gun in her hand, waiting until Bass reappears.

“All clear,” he calls out, coming to fetch his pack. “There’s not much here, but it’s ours,” he says as she turns in a circle, taking in the room. There’s a few pieces of furniture scattered throughout the room and a large window looking out towards the water. Bass throws his pack on the bar that divides the kitchen from the living area and slides his jacket off. 

“There’s a couple of bedrooms and a bathroom. We can take stock tomorrow. For now, I say we go for a swim, build a fire and cook these fish.”

“I don’t know how, I never learned,” Charlie replied, standing in the middle of the living room, a lost look on her face. 

“Hey, come here,” Bass murmured, making his way towards her. “We’re going to get through this Charlie, I promise,” he assured her as he grasped her shoulders. “We can have a good life here. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

Giving in to her fear and her grief, Charlie lowered her head, resting it against Bass’ shoulder as he tilted his head against hers pressing a kiss to her head, rubbing a hand up and down her back until she pulled back and took a deep breath. “So, swimming?”

Bass smiled. “I’ll teach you.”

“K,” Charlie replied with a nod.

* * *

Following Bass’ example, Charlie leaves most of her clothing in the house, following him down to the beach in nothing but her panties and a tank top. 

They decided to cook the fish first and lay on the beach in the late afternoon sun as three, fat fish cooked over open flames. When they were done, Bass pulled them off and onto a lone plate he had found at the house and by the time they were done there was nothing but a pile of bones and Charlie was laying in the sand pleasantly relaxed. 

After a bit, Bass got to his feet, and held his hand out. “Come on, lets teach you how to be a mermaid.”

Looking at him thoughtfully, Charlie reached out with both her hands grabbing onto his one, letting him haul her up. Leading her into the water, Bass let her get use to pull of the water as they splashed and played, before getting down to business.

Holding his hands out before touching her, Bass grinned. “Just think of this as sword practice.”

“Yeah, just remember what happened the last time you touched my ass and we’ll be fine,” Charlie replied, the waves causing her to sway into him.

“Duly noted,” he smirked.

* * *

By the time they waded to shore an hour later, Charlie was able to float and propel herself through the water with minimal flailing. 

“Just promise me one thing,” Bass requested as they made their way up the beach towards the house. “Don’t ever go swimming by yourself. At least not until I’m sure you’re not going to drown.”

Her hackles up at first, Charlie relaxed quickly, his words reminding her of how much they had lost. 

“Of course,” she promised, taking hold of his hand and squeezing. 

Changing into dry clothes, Charlie hung their wet ones over one of the chairs before taking two of the candles Bass had bargained for in town, and carried one to each room along with their flint and steel. 

Bass had claimed the room towards the front of the house, leaving Charlie with the smaller room in the back, not that she minded, it would just be strange being under a roof again. While working on the farms, they had a tent that they shared and on the road they slept out in the open, taking turns keeping watch. 

When he came in from checking the perimeter, she helped him push the other chair in front of the door. “We’ll get it set to rights tomorrow, but for tonight, this should be good enough,” he assured her as she rubbed her arms. 

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she replied with a nod more confident than she felt. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” Bass called after her softly, watching as she walked away. Gathering his things, he made his way to the room he had claimed and softly shut the door. 

Hours later as the night drug on and Charlie was unable to sleep, she grabbed her blanket and padded down the tiled hallway to Bass’ room, quietly opening the door. Instantly awake, Bass had a gun pointed at her in a heartbeat. He lowered it with a heavy sigh. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t sleep.”

Patting the bed, he laid the gun on the bedside table. 

Crawling on the bed beside him, Charlie turned her back to him, the sound of his breathing instantly relaxing her. Oh how times had changed, she thought as he curled up behind her, his arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her close, his breath hot on her neck. 

Evidently he wasn’t able to sleep either.

* * *

When she woke the next morning his spot was cold. Getting up, she moved towards the window just in time to see him walking out of the ocean, shaking the water out of his hair. She watched as he strode across the beach, nude as the day he was born, until he disappeared underneath the house. 

Walking to the bedroom door, she leaned against the frame and waited for him to come up the stairs and into the house. 

“Oh, hey,” he said, when he saw her waiting on him. “I decided to go for a swim.” 

“Yes, I saw that,” she smirked with a raise of her brow. 

“Did you like what you saw?” he asked, his voice growing husky as he drew near. 

“As if,” she chuckled, pushing him away before making her way back to her room, still dressed in nothing but the skimpy panties and tank top she had come to him in last night. 

Sucking in a breath, he let it out slowly. He wasn't about to tell her that waking up to her long legs tangled up with his and her breasts pressed up against him had made that swim more of a necessity than a luxury.

Slipping into his room, he toweled himself dry and pulled on his clothes. They would get the inside of the house in shape today and go from there. They had enough supplies, including fresh water, to last them a few days so wouldn’t need to go into town anytime soon. 

Coming out of his room, he met Charlie in the kitchen. “Trash first?” Charlie asked, hands on her hips as she looked around. 

“Yeah,” Bass replied, looking around. “We can toss it over the landing onto the yard and deal with it later. 

Starting with the furniture first, they methodically moved through the house until every room, closet, cabinet and cupboard had been gone through. They would have to wait until they collected more fresh water to clean, but this was a good start. As Charlie worked on converting the old stove into something they could cook on in bad weather, Bass went to work on making sure the windows were secure and making a drop lock for the front door.

By the time they finished and ate dinner, Charlie was tired. Her bed had been one of the last things to be tossed, so moving her things into Bass’ room, she stripped down and crawled into bed. 

“Why don’t I sleep on the couch,” he offered, coming into the room. 

“Bass, just come to bed,” she whined laying face down, her face buried in a dusty pillowcase.

“Fine, but no getting mad when I try to cuddle”

Lifting her head just enough to crook an eyebrow, Charlie shook her head. “Who knew President Monroe was a cuddler.” 

“I’ll have you know I’ve never had one complaint."

“Just shut up and go to sleep,” came Charlie’s muffled reply.

Striping down to his shorts, Bass blew out the candle and crawled in beside her.

* * *

In the morning, before going into town for the second time, Charlie went hunting, bagging a turkey and a few plump hares in hopes of trading for things that they needed. 

They were both quiet on the walk into town and Charlie let Bass do most of the talking once they were there. The people in the market were excited about the fresh meat and were happy to barter for any supplies that they needed, including the location of a well, close to their home. It would get them by until Bass had the barrels, that now sat in the back of the wagon outside, hooked up to a water catchment system. They were also offered the broken remnants of a few fishing traps that Bass thought he could easily repair and that would make them more self sufficient. 

As Charlie looked through a seed collection, being kept company by a few of the local children, Bass pulled out a few of their diamonds paying for a quilt he had seen Charlie fingering earlier. 

“ ¿tu esposa? ” (Your Wife?) the woman asked, nodding at Charlie, who had abandoned the seeds to chase after the children, giggling just as much as they were when she caught them.

“Si,” Bass answered, having convinced Charlie that it was the safest story they could give without raising any suspicion to their true identity. She called him a paranoid fuck which was probably true, but with the patriots still on the loose they couldn’t take any chances. If they were going to settle down and disappear into obscurity, they couldn’t be the same people they were. 

When Bass looked back at the woman she smiled softly. “ un diamante para la colcha y tantas semillas como quiera para su próxima captura.” ( a diamond for the quilt and as many seeds as you want for your next catch)

“Muchas gracias, señora,” Bass replied, taking the quilt and making his way towards Charlie. She ruffled the children’s hair and told them goodbye as Bass approached her. 

“I made a deal with the owner that you could take as many seeds as you wanted for your next catch.”

The expression on her face was worth it as she smiled up at him. “Really?”

“Really.”

“And what about this?” she asked, running a hand over the colorful quilt. 

“It’s a housewarming gift.”

“Housewarming?”

“I’ll explain on the way home. Go pick out your seeds.”

That night when she came to bed, Bass was there, sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for her. 

Approaching him, thinking something was wrong, she realized that the only thing covering him was the quilt he had given her. Pulling her tank top off and tossing it away, she hooked her thumbs into her panties and tugged them off.

When he held out his hand, she took it, and coming closer, swung a leg over his as he pulled the quilt away. Cupping his cheeks, Charlie slowly kissed him, before pulling away to look at him. “You realize if we do this you’re stuck with me?” which elicited a chuckle from him as his hands ran up and down her back and over her backside.

“I’ve been stuck with you since the moment we met,” he said softly near her ear as he pulled her closer, cupping her breasts. 

“Yeah, me too,” she replied, leaning in to kiss him once more. Reaching down between them, she stroked his hard cock before lifting up enough to sink down on him, “Jesus your wet,'' he murmured, his hands moved to her hips helping her find a good rhythm. She knew his fingers would leave bruises in the morning, but didn’t care as she leaned back, putting her hands on his knees.

* * *

Bass fixed the fish traps while Charlie picked out a plot for a vegetable garden. They made a clear path to the well and worked together to get the barrels cleaned up and frames made to place them on.  They went into town every few weeks, just to see if there was any news, but always brought game to trade for some little something that Charlie would find for the house. 

As Bass made his way through the market stopping to talk to a few of the men, asking of any news that had come through town, he lost track of Charlie. Looking around frantically, he asked  everyone if they had seen her. No one had until one little girl came running up and took him by the hand and drug him along, chanting “de esta manera! de esta manera!”(This way! This way!)

“Lottie?” he asked following along, resisting the urge to pick the little girl up and carry her so they could go faster. 

When he saw Charlie emerge from the shack, he let go of the girl’s hand and jogged his way over. Ignoring the woman she was speaking to, he spun her around and pulled her against him, holding onto her tightly before pulling away just enough to press his lips forcibly against her own as he cupped her cheeks. 

Gasping, Charlie grasped the edges of his shirt as he kissed her. When he finally broke the kiss, she sucked in a breath as she opened her eyes looking up at him. 

“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered against her lips as he pressed his forehead against hers. 

She shakes her head. "Didn't you hear? You're stuck with me,” she whispered back, bringing her hand up to run a thumb across his cheek. 

With a wet chuckle, he leaned in kissing her softly this time, before finally releasing his hold on her.

Keeping hold of his hand, she turned and motioned to the woman behind her. “This is Maria. Her grandmother’s sick. I gave her a recipe for a drink that could ease her breathing. I just came by to check on her. V olveré a pasar la semana que viene” (I’ll be back next week.) she told the woman.

“Gracias senorita,” Maria said with a little wave, turning to go back into the ramshackle house. 

“Let’s go home,” Charlie said, turning back to Bass. 

Reaching up to brush her hair away from her face, Bass nodded. “Yeah, let's go home.” 

Wrapping his fingers around hers, they finally, truly, looked towards the future. There was no waiting for Miles to make a decision or worrying about how Rachel felt when they were inevitably paired together. 

Now there was just living, and they were doing it together. 


End file.
